The Man Without a Country (album)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

'' The Man Without a Country'' is a studio album of
phonograph record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
s by
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
of the famous Edward Everett Hale story released September 15, 1947. The story had been adapted as a poetic narrative by Jean Holloway. The album was produced and directed by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
producer Robert Welch with musical accompaniment from Victor Young and His Orchestra.


Track listing

These songs were featured on a two-disc twelve-inch, 78 rpm album set, Decca Album No. DAU-3. The album was auto-coupled for ease of playing with a record changer. Parts one and two were recorded on June 13, 1947, and parts three and four on June 16, 1947. Disc 1: (90013) Disc 2: (90014)


Cast

* Bing Crosby: Narrator *
Frank Lovejoy Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir '' The Hitch-Hiker'' and for starring in the radio drama '' Night Beat ...
: Philip Nolan *
Joan Banks Joan Banks (October 30, 1918 – January 18, 1998) was an American film, television, stage, and radio actress (described as "a soapbox queen"), who often appeared in dramas with her husband, Frank Lovejoy. Early life Banks attended a school of ...
: Ann * Griff Barnett: Judge * Gale Gordon: Captain * Norman Fields: Attorney * Jack Webb, Ira Grossel, Frank Gerstle: voices


Radio broadcast

Bing Crosby specially presented this patriotic piece on his Philco show of November 26, 1947 on the eve of Thanksgiving and although basically the same as the commercial issue, a different cast lead to an alternative interpretation. There were also differences in scripting, particularly in Crosby’s narration which had been somewhat amplified. This led to an interesting review by Variety: "Bing Crosby was impressive on his Philco Show, Wednesday night (26th) on ABC, as the narrator of Jean Holloway’s dramatisation of Edward Everett Hale’s, ‘The Man Without a Country’. There was one other notable aspect of the broadcast. That was the impression on the listener, particularly during the present emphasis on patriotism, of the familiar story of Philip Nolan’s disgrace. There has always been something disturbing about that notorious incident but this broadcast suggested, as never before, (not even on several previous presentations of the same script) that the punishment imposed on Nolan was inhumanely cruel. It was deliberate and unrelenting and only death brought relief for the officer who, on thoughtless impulse, wished never to hear of the United States again. No one could seriously have thought Nolan really have meant what he had blurted out in a moment of rage. In fact, as Hale’s account says, Nolan’s epitaph contained the statement that no man ever loved America more than he. Only the most supremely self-righteous patriot would willingly face the same strict accountability of his everyday reckless word that Philip Nolan faced and this broadcast suggested that in the case of ‘The Man Without A Country, the intended villain emerged a finer figure than did the zealots who judged him."


Other releases

The album was transferred to a dual
10" LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of  rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...
along with the ''What We So Proudly Hail'' 78 rpm set in 1950 with the catalogue number ''Decca 'DL 8020. The recording was rebroadcast as part of a 1954 Memorial Day edition of the WNBC poetry radio program ''Anthology''. "The Man Without a Country" first appeared on CD on Jonzo's ''The Chronological Bing Crosby'' Vol. 45 (JZCD-45).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Without a Country Bing Crosby albums Decca Records albums 1947 albums Spoken word albums by American artists